A New Leaf
by skarm
Summary: Unluckily Naruto finds himself the primary target of both Orochimaru's Hidden Sound village and the mysterious Akatsuki organization. However, a few choice encounters with a girl leaves Naruto with larger problems. Such as the pain in his virgin ears.
1. Prologue: Rocky Beginnings

A/N: It had to happen. I just couldn't write something "short". Apparently my definition of short is different that most other people's definition (take my beta, Sir Chris, laughing at me when I said I'd have short chapters of around 5k words). This is the first of two Prologue chapters. It also happens to be a Naruto/Tayuya story, albeit not all the way through.

For that reason alone I'll need votes as to who Naruto should be seeing when we finish the prologue. While I have no problem with crack pairings, obviously, I'll have to nix Tsunade and Sakura (not that the latter is a crack pairing) as options due to the storyline. Anyone else (that is **_female_**) is fair game for a vote.

The M rating is for language and some more adult themes that will become apparent. The language will become apparent very quickly. If bad language offends you please do not read on.

**Prologue Chapter 1: Rocky Beginnings  
****Small town near Iwa, Earth Country  
****Two Years Ago.**

The loud crash followed by a colorful explicative was enough to jolt Naruto awake from his light slumber. With lightning fast reflexes he threw the covers off his bed and jumped up wide awake. Seeing that he was still alone in his room and the sounds were most likely not an assassin sneaking in to take his life in the middle of the night. After quick glance to his side returned an empty bed that hadn't been slept in, Naruto possibly wondered if it was his sensei, the legendary sannin Jiraiya, stumbling home late at night at drunk again.

There were some hushed words coming from the other side of the door that led into the hallway followed by another curse. It _could_ have been Jiraiya, Naruto reasoned, seeing as the first voice was definitely male and the one with the colorful mouth was female. More than once Jiraiya had gotten into large arguments or offended women in the middle of a in a plastered stupor.

However, Naruto's gut feeling told him this wasn't Jiraiya earning his title of ero-sennin again. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up, a trait that he was sure he had inherited partially from the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, and he had long since learned to trust his instincts since leaving Konoha far behind on his training journey.

Naruto was, after all, located deep in the Earth Country near the Hidden Village of the Rock, Iwa. While the war between Rock and Leaf was definitely over and had been for over a decade, neither side tolerated the other in their territory. It was basically a cold war situation between the two countries. Jiraiya had taken to disguising his appearance since as a legendary sannin he was quite well known, even outside of Konoha, and had forced Naruto to abandon his Leaf Shinobi forehead protector in favor of one marked with an eclipsing sun. This had bugged Naruto, but after he saw just how many Rock nins there were in the Earth Country and just how powerful even some of the genin looked, he let it slide.

Closing his eyes , Naruto directed his chakra to his ears and crept silently towards the door. While the old Naruto might have gone straight in charging, the newer one, or at least the one he had resigned himself to while in the Earth country, would avoid fighting if at all possible. Getting one's rear kicked tended to make people learn lessons quickly in the life of a Shinobi.

"He's not here," the male voice basically hissed. This was followed by a loud creak that hurt Naruto's chakra-enhanced hearing.

"Well that's just fucking great. Was he tipped off?" the female voice replied angrily. Naruto could tell she was on the verge of snapping.

_Definitely not Jiraiya_, Naruto thought to himself. There were several things he could do. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger to him, but of course the two nins outside could have easily searched the room across from him by mistake. Naruto imagined there might be quite a large prize on Jiraiya's head. If he stayed put the two nins might begin searching the inn and that wasn't great either. He didn't exactly want be involved in a Rock nin investigation.

"Just fucking blast it open then. He has to be around here somewhere," the female voice sounded again which broke Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Wouldn't that be a bit too lou-"

"Fuck. Get the hell out of the way. I'll fucking do it."

The clunks of feet walking around the inn's wooden floor echoed painfully due to Naruto's enhanced hearing.

"I don't think-"

"Shut the fuck up."

The exchange was followed by a loud crash and splintering of wood. Naruto immediately sprinted forward as a loud scream erupted shortly afterwards. It was obvious that these two were serious and someone was about to get hurt. Naruto couldn't sit back and let that happen. With a quick kick he knocked his own door off its hinges and sent it crashing into the two nins just outside in the hallway.

Following the door, he dug his feet into the ground and held his position in the door frame to quickly survey the situation knowing full well he had at least stunned his opponents. His eyes widen in surprise.

The doorway directly across from his room was charred and blown open and in the other room as a woman desperately clinging to a bed sheet and trying to cover up her chest. The black haired girl was fairly young, if Naruto had to guess, and had quite a sizable bust. He could feel the blush creeping up on to his face.

"Perverts! All of you!" the young woman cried as she tried rather unsuccessfully to cover her entire body by wrapping herself in the sheet although she succeeded in shrouding her chest and pelvic regions.

"Ano! Ano!" Naruto cried instantly, his eyes widening in surprise while he thrust his hands up defensively. Before he could fully explain himself the young woman let out another scream and fled into the depths of the room. It was the least of Naruto's worries, though.

The two assailants were struggling to their feet and shoving the wrecking of Naruto's door attack out of the way. While both were dressed in pitch black, Naruto recognized them immediately. They wore the forehead protector of Oto, Orochimaru's Hidden Village of the Sound.

"Why you bitch," snarled the masked woman with a fiery passion about it. "How fucking dare you?" She took a step forward intending to intimidate Naruto.

"I don't think this is the time for-" the second Sound nin reached out to grab his comrade's shoulder and restrain her.

"Don't fucking touch me. I've told you that enough." The female Sound nin smacked her ally's hand away swiftly.

The Sound nin's bickering was interrupted by another loud crash coming from the lower levels of the inn which signaled the arrival of the Rock nins and most likely their version of ANBU at that. This meant trouble, and both Naruto and the two masked Sound nins knew it.

"Fuck!"

With that single word both Sound nins turned on their heels and sprinted down the short hall despite the fact that it was a dead end.

Gulping and glancing from the sole staircase to the hall that the Sound nins were racing down Naruto wished Jiraiya were here. _Stupid ero-sennin, where is he? _There was really only one option available. He couldn't allow himself to be captured by the Rock. With one last fleeting glance into the bedroom where the woman had vanished to preserve her dignity, Naruto sped after the two Sound nins.

The male nin reached the large window at the end of the hall first and dove forward a few feet before reaching it. Rolling himself into a ball he connected with the glass causing it to shatter and send shards flying. A split second later the woman dove head first out the window and out of sight.

Only a few seconds later Naruto leapt out of the window in a similar fashion, completing a roll in mid air before landing on the hard group upright. With his knees stinging slightly from the abrupt landing the Shinobi from Konoha inspected his surroundings.

The small village where he and Jiraiya had taken up in for a few weeks was as sleepy as ever. Or so it used to be. In nearly every building down the village's one main street lights were turning on at random intervals. If Naruto had been gazing out his window earlier he would have noticed that one light, on a high floor in a brothel, had been on all night. Past the outskirts of the village Naruto could see the lit up city of Iwa, the capital of the Earth Country. It was barely a half day's travel from where he was currently.

It didn't matter, though, as there were still enough Rock nins in this town and the general vicinity to be a major problem. While some of the techniques he had learned from various people in the Earth country were quite amusing and useful it would all be for naught if he was captured or killed while here.

Naruto refused to be caught, however. He spied two shadows sprinting in the opposite direction from the main street and out into the rocky, barren, wastelands that littered the Earth Country. Hence the place was aptly named. Naruto had little choice but to follow the two Sound nins into the rocky outcropping as he heard someone up above where he had just leapt from. As he started to move there was a whistling in the wind followed by a sharp pain in the back of his upper arm as a Rock nin kunai grazed his arm before embedding itself in the dusty road. Naruto didn't let the warm trickle of blood stop him at all since he knew at this rate any hesitation would result in his immediate death. Propelling himself with all his speed, which he had been working on considerably since leaving with Jiraiya, Naruto sprinted after the two Sound nins.

It took him only a few seconds to reach the rocky outcropping where the pathway out of the village took a sharp down and descended down into a narrow valley with large and jagged rocks in a steep slope. There was really nowhere to go but straight ahead since if he attempted to climb up to the top, which would have been preferable as the first rule of combat is high ground, he would have either been shredded alive doing it recklessly or caught doing it safely. However, following blindly behind two enemy nins, even if they were fleeing the same enemies he was, wasn't the smartest thing to do.

Although he didn't risk a glance over his shoulder he knew that the pursuing nins weren't directly behind him, otherwise there would have been a flurry of kunai embedding themselves in his back, and he stopped for a second to think. The road continued down quite some ways, but now that he stopped and looked around he realized just how dangerous this situation was. The ground was covered in small, sharp rocks and the larger jagged outcroppings along the steep slope of the canyon walls were large enough to hide behind easily. It was the perfect place for an ambush.

Both groups of his enemies had an advantage over him. The Rock nins knew their own terrain well and were used to the barren lands of the Earth Country where as Naruto knew that, himself, was best in the woodlands that surrounded Konoha. The Sound nins were ahead of him and had the advantage of surprise. If they chose to lay in wait or set a trap they would have had the time to do it. The fact that it night, and thus pitch black, didn't help Naruto any, but any Shinobi worth anything could simply shift some of their chakra to his or her eyes to see fairly well in the dark, but it was an added strain. Ninjas naturally were masters of the night so anyone not mastering the ability to enhance their vision for the dark of night was most likely going to be busted from genin back down to an academy student faster than he or she could say 'ramen'.

Haruno Sakura, Naruto's remaining teammate, and his sensei, Hatake Kakashi, had drilled the need to outthink your opponents into Naruto's skull enough since his graduation from the academy. It was something that clicked just now after several failed attempts already on his journey with Jiraiya.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he whispered as quietly as he could while flipping through numerous hand seals. Two clones popped into existence beside his body holding identical poses as he held himself. The three Narutos quickly got into a huddle and began planning their strategy.

The first Naruto that advanced didn't get farther than a few feet before an explosion tag that was hidden behind a small rock went off in a shower of debris and flames. Immediately the second Naruto leapt up and forward hoping to catch his attacker by surprise.

The Sound nin, the male one judging by the size of the shadow, had leapt from the top of a pointed rock on the canyon wall with a small, thing katana in his hands. He obviously had expected Naruto to be diving backwards from the trap explosion.

However Naruto was instead propelling himself forward towards the explosion. The Sound nin barely reacted in time and managed to used his arms to guard against the first Naruto was aiming for his gut. With the initial hit blocked and as the two nins were falling to the ground, the Sound nin sliced downwards with his katana and cleaved out a large section of Naruto's back.

After landing on the ground without so much as a sound, the Sound nin went to wipe the blood from his sword. "Pathetic." As soon as he rubbed his sleeve over the sword he realized he was in trouble. There was no blood on the blade at all.

Suddenly Naruto leapt into the air as the Sound nin staggered back in surprise. While on the downward arc of his jump he aimed a kick directly at his enemy's head.

With a surprising reaction speed the Sound nin was able to roll himself to the side and bring his arms down in a sweeping motion to cleave off his attacker's head. It rolled about on the ground for a few moments before coming to a stop. It then vanished in puff of smoke.

It was too late for the Sound nin to react, other than his eyes widening in surprise, as Naruto emerged from the dust cloud of the explosion tag with his clothes crispy and shredded from the explosion.

Naruto pivoted on his arm while in a half twist as he propelled himself upwards and sent a powerful snap kick to the Sound nin's jaw that connected solidly and knocked him into the air. Using the momentum from his movement he followed the Sound nin's body upwards while in a slow spiral due to his spin.

_Naruto Rendan 2.0_, Naruto thought grimly as he ended the spin and whipped his leg around with a tremendous force until it connected with the Sound nin's head to send the helpless man flying off into the jagged slope in which he hiding earlier.

He didn't have long to celebrate after he touched gracefully back down to the ground in a crouch as a sharp shooting pain shot through his back. The Leaf nin reached back quickly and pulled the Sound nin kunai from between his ribs and threw it behind him. Getting to his feet and trying to ignore the pain he rounded on his attacker and saw the female Sound nin drawing another kunai/

"Fucking bastard!" she screamed before launching the kunai towards her opponent.

Sidestepping instantly, Naruto reached out and snagged the kunai by the handle as it sailed past where he had just been standing. He brought his arm back over his shoulder and pitched the kunai back at its original owner all in the same motion before charging down the woman.

The woman ducked the kunai with ease, but leaned back as Naruto came in with a slashing motion holding his own kunai.

All Naruto saw was a smirk on her face as she burst into a puff of smoke. Naruto's momentum however was unforgiving. His motion continued as he dropped to one knee and lodged his kunai deep into the ground due to his double handed swing.

He abandoned his own kunai in the ground and turned just in time to see the female Sound nin baring down on him with a kunai aimed at his neck. With only a split second for thought he brought one of his hands up defensively. It was a weak defense and he knew he was doomed for underestimating his opponent. She had performed a Henge and turned herself into the original kunai that her clone had thrown.

Searing pain threatened to overwhelm Naruto as he caught the blade of the dagger as it as rammed downwards towards his throat. The blade sliced deeply into his hand but stopped just short puncturing his esophagus. While the pain was excruciating as the severed nerves burned harshly and the blood dripped down his wrist and damped his shirt Naruto knew there was a far greater and more serious problem.

While Naruto was larger than the woman and physically stronger the Sound nin had a large advantage in leverage. If Naruto didn't do anything soon his neck would be skewered like some shish kabob. He reached back with his left hand and grasped the handle of the kunai had had deeply embedded in the hard earth. When a weak tug didn't dislodged the dagger he began to panic. He was slowly losing ground in the struggle over the kunai as it was inching closer as time passed.

His eyes darted up at his attacker and saw that her own eyes held a cold, yet seemingly passionate, fire. _A true Shinobi_.

Once he fully realized he was nearly out of time he swung his left arm up wildly in an attempt to distract his opponent, but she easily parried it with her free arm by catching his blow with her forearm and directing it harmlessly away from her. He pulled his arm back again and while sending some chakra to it gripped the handle of his stuck kunai again. With all the strength he could manage he ripped the kunai from the rocky terrain just as the felt the tip of the Sound nin's kunai press up against his throat.

Naruto swung his arm up again in a similar motion as moments before and the Sound nin raised her arm to block again, but failed to see that he was clutching a weapon this time. The kunai plunged through the back of the Sound nin's hand and only stopped at the hilt although that was well after the tip came out the other side.

Immediately the pressure on kunai Naruto was holding by the blade slackened and he thrust it to the side. The Sound nin's grip on her kunai faltered and the object fell from her grasp.

"You fucking little _shit_!" she hissed in anger before Naruto snapped a kick that caught her in the ribs and sent her sprawling onto the ground.

Naruto took a moment to examine his blood covered hand and noticed that the cuts were quite deep. He also needed to hope that the kunai the Sound nins were carrying weren't poisoned, but with the way he was bleeding anyways it most likely wouldn't matter. He glanced at the Sound nin who had pulled herself into a sitting position and was examining her own hand at the same time. It was odd how the battle had stopped dead.

"They're over there!"

"Quiet, Kaito-kun. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"Ow! You don't have to hit me, Eirou-sama."

"I will until you learn to be quiet like a true Shinobi. You are a genin. Act more like it. Your sister seems to be having no problems and she is younger than you, Kaito." The man paused. "Look, because of your comment they've been alerted. Stay back."

"Awww, Eriou-sama-"

"Just because you are your older brother does not mean you do not have to listen to me. I am your jounin instructor. You shall refer to me as Eirou-sensei. Now, go and stay with Mayumi-chan until I tell you it is safe. We don't know how strong these two are and even though they look weak it could be a trick."

"But Eirou-sensei…" whined the younger boy, who Naruto figured to be about a few years younger than he was himself given the boy's size. The Rock genin appeared to have spiky hair, although it was hard to see from the distance in the current light, and was standing beside a slightly smaller figure, a girl with long hair by the look of it, that Naruto assumed to be the Rock genin's sister, Mayumi-chan.

"I know you are eager to test your abilities, but you must learn patience. Stay with Mayumi-chan."

The voice that belonged to the eldest of the three Rock nins was very hard place location wise. He, unlike his two siblings, was very skilled with masking his location. It wasn't until a large spire burst from ground between Naruto and the Sound nin causing the two to jump back in surprise.

"What the fuck-"

The spire exploded outward and showered the two nins, who were standing side by side, sharp fragments. The force of the explosion pitched the two of them onto their backs and sent them skidding towards the edge of the canyon.

Naruto instantly flipped back up to his feet and was rewarded to see the Rock jounin, who was built similarly to Asuma with red hair, following in the path of the explosion. With a round house kick the Rock nin connected his foot to Naruto's knee and dropped him to the ground. Naruto cringed as he expected a killing blow to come, but the Rock nin was forced to dodge backwards as a hailstorm of kunai came flying at him.

"I do not wish to kill you," the Rock nin, Eirou, said calmly after finishing the back flip he did to dodge the Sound nin's kunai attack. "I merely wish to bring you before our council for questioning about tonight's events."

Before Naruto could reply the female Sound nin stepped forward with her hand outstretched and middle finger raised. "Fuck you, bastard."

The Rock nin didn't seemed phased one bit by the Sound nin's foul mouth.

"How dare you talk to Eirou-sensei like that like!" roared the Rock genin, Kaito. He had wandered up to his older brother's side after the attack.

The Rock nin looked back quickly. "Kaito! Get back with Mayumi-chan!"

Taking advantage of the interruption, the Sound nin impaled an explosion tag to another kunai and hurled it in the Rock nin's direction. Without even waiting to see the result, she got to her feet and sped towards the canyon wall. When the explosion went off with the Rock jounin defending his younger brother Naruto wasted no time in dashing after the Sound nin.

With precise hops up the jagged cliff face, they were about halfway up when they heard the Rock jounin utter a Jutsu. "Doton: Tatakikowasu!"

_Fuck_, Naruto thought, not even realizing that the Sound nin was having a poor influence on his diction. Sakura wouldn't be pleased. There was a terrifying rumbling coming from below them. The earth sounded like it was splitting and even Tsunade wouldn't be one to bet against that actually being what was happening.

Naruto quickly flung himself over the top of the canyon just as the large split seemed to cleave the entire wall in two where they were climbing. The canyon wall seemed to shatter and disintegrate under the technique and plummet downwards. The Sound nin didn't seem to be fairing so well. She had fallen behind climbing up the cliff not being as physically strong as that Leaf nin.

Unconsciously Naruto swung out an arm and caught the Sound nin's hand just as the rocks underneath her gave away. It was a precarious situation, to be sure. Both Naruto and the Sound nin had reacted with their dominate hands. That was to say their right hands. Both of which had been injured badly and the slick combination of blood oozing about their palms made it hard to keep their grip on one another.

"Wow! Eirou-sensei! That was amazing!"

"Kaito-kun, please settle down. They aren't dead yet."

After grabbing a hold of the woman's wrist with his left hand, Naruto hauled her up over the side of the cliff. "We have to go, fast."

"No fucking shit," the Sound nin replied while panting slightly. She didn't seem annoyed, however.

"They'll be along any second…"

"Then shut the fuck up and follow me if you want to live," the Sound nin snapped and turned towards some rocky spires in the distance.

Despite knowing it was a bad idea, Naruto followed her anyways. If he didn't, he'd end up either fighting her until the Rock nins caught up and then he'd surely lose. That jounin was quite powerful and Naruto didn't figure his chances were very good against him even if he had mastered the Rasengan.

* * *

It had taken a few hours, but the Sound nin had lead Naruto to a cave in the side of a rock spire and put up a barrier rather expertly to shield them from view, but still allowed them to see out. The Rock nins had passed by a few times, but had never given the rock spire a second thought. Naruto assumed after a few hours they had given up searching and gone back to the village. 

"I think we're safe now," he commented rather idly. He was stiff and sore from the previous battles with the Sound nins and had only bandaged his wounded hand just recently.

The Sound nin, who had been sitting silently near the entrance the entire time moved slowly back to him. "I guess you're a lucky shit, you know that?"

Naruto looked into her eyes trying to get a hint of her face or hair and offered her a smile. "Well if it wasn't for you-"

"Can it, dumbass," the Sound nin snapped. Her brown eyes glared dangerously before she reached over and placed a hand on his chest.

The last thing Naruto remembered of that evening was a warm pulse on his rib cage and the Sound nin's brown eyes before he fell into darkness.

_To be continued…_

A/N: Next chapter will mark the closing of the Prologue chapters.


	2. Prologue: Rocky Beginnings II

**Author's Note** - Alas, it seems you guys really love Temari. I don't have a problem with doing that, but I'll leave the voting up for this chapter as well since it won't start directly when I start the regular timeline next chapter. 

Also, there most likely won't be a huge explanation as to why Tayuya is alive. We never found out what happened to the four Sounds, in the manga anyways (I've never watched the Anime so don't reference that, please), and some of them we can't say died. Ukon and Sakon clearly died, but did Tayuya or Kidoumaru? From the manga we can't really say. Tayuya will eventually recount what happened against Temari and Shikamaru to Naruto, but like I said don't expect anything amazing.

And, to ShadowCelest: You'll most likely understand at the start of the next chapter. Naruto and Tayuya will not get together in this prologue and he will start seeing someone else in the regular timeline until the two meet up again.

**Prologue Chapter 2: Rocky Beginnings, II**

**A Small Town on the Border of the Earth Country and the Waterfall Country 3 days later**

"What are you so uptight about, kid? It's a beautiful day out there!" Jiraiya exclaimed as he and Naruto walked through the main town square in yet another town on the edge of the Earth Country. Anyone that didn't know Jiraiya personally would have wondered exactly what he meant as the day was rather miserable. That was to say it was cloudy and had been raining earlier that morning. However, Jiraiya wasn't even looking up at the skies as he was too focused on all the women walking around the town.

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what he should have been happy about given what had happened a few days ago. He was unsure what had happened after the Sound nin had knocked him out, but had awoken at daybreak in the exact same place with the barrier still intact so that he wouldn't be discovered. From there he had snuck back to the hotel, but found no sign of Jiraiya.

Ten minutes after that Naruto had broken down the door, grinding his teeth angrily, to the brothel's 'Kage suite' to find Jiraiya passed out with at least five young women. He had never really yelled at Jiraiya before that time, but when the pervert had woken up and demanded that Naruto get his own room and women if he was in that kind of mood he couldn't help himself.

Since then they had left as discretely as possible, which was to say impossible since the Mistress of the brothel decided to see their best customer of the year off with a celebration that involved many women running around topless as well as other things Naruto didn't want to remember at all.

So yes, truth be told, Naruto had a lot more important things on his mind, including the Rock nins that were most likely hunting him down and the Sound nin, than whatever his perverted sensei had on his mind. They had been on their training journey for quite a bit and to be fair, Naruto had learned a lot, but it seemed that Jiraiya had other things on his mind such as grooming him to become his perverted successor. _Nah, ero-sennin wouldn't go that far_.

It took a whole five seconds for Naruto to be proved horribly wrong when Jiraiya pulled him aside into a small alley between two stores. Naruto looked up at Jiraiya excitedly. The last time his sensei had pulled him aside there was a covert mission involved in sneaking about a town which Naruto had eagerly completed.

"Kid," Jiraiya began slowly. "I've decided that you're far too stressed and need to learn to relax more. I'm going to teach you how to become a man."

Naruto deadpanned.

"Don't look so solemn, my boy. It's a great thing to be taught these things by someone such as myself! Most people have to read about it in Come Come Paradise, but here I am offering to teach you myself!" It was more or less a forced request, not an offer.

"Err, ero-sennin-"

"Don't call me that, kid. You need cheering up so I'm going to teach you how to enjoy yourself."

With that Jiraiya lead a resisting Naruto back out on to the main street and began leading him towards an unknown direction, although Naruto assumed it would be a brothel or something of the sort.

"Now listen up," Jiraiya said while eyeing some of the women passing by lecherously. "Lesson One: Finding a good wench." He turned to the nearest woman he could see, which happened to be young woman with long blonde hair, and smiled disturbingly. "Hello, Miss!"

However, seeing as the young woman had overheard Jiraiya's previous comment about finding a wench she was less than pleased. Naruto looked away and cringed while a loud slap resonated around the surrounding area.

If Naruto had expected this to deter Jiraiya from his plan to make him his successor to the perverted throne he would have been sadly mistaken. If anything it only made the sannin double his efforts.

"Lesson Two: Don't be discouraged. There are bound to be some girls who are overly violent and aren't worth your time," Jiraiya continued a few minutes later while he was rubbing the pink hand mark on his cheek.

Naruto would have made a comment about Tsunade, but Jiraiya was already ogling the next woman who was walking towards them on her way to work as a waitress judging by her uniform.

"You should appreciate the sights more, kid," the sannin explained, nearly drooling now at the woman's tight uniform. "The curves, the hips, the sway, the silky skin, the chest. Especially the chest." By now Naruto was just wondering how he wasn't suffering from a nosebleed overdose.

Jiraiya spent half the day showing Naruto the pleasures of being a lecherous pervert, much to the latter's annoyance, but it was topped off entirely when the sannin lead his pupil towards the one building Naruto knew he didn't want to set foot in.

"A brothel," Jiraiya explained needlessly. Truthfully Naruto had no idea what a brothel was prior to leaving with Jiraiya, but he had examined nearly every brothel on their journey searching for his sensei after completing whatever training was set for the day. "You may be a bit young to enter, kid, but I'm sure I can get you in."

_Great. Just what I always wanted_. Personally Naruto wanted nothing more than to leave the Earth Country behind. He had seen several groups of Rock nin sweeping the areas since they crossed over the border from the Waterfall country. He had also noticed several teams of genin sweeping around the countryside and bordering towns putting up wanted posters for both a male and a female nin who were both wanted for questioning by the Tsuchikage.

Naruto was also quite surprised at the sheer volume of Rock nin. While he knew that farther northwest beyond the capital of Iwa there was really nothing to the Earth Country, the concentration of nin around the border was astounding. In Konoha most of the genin teams stayed inside the city of Konoha itself for all their D-rank and many C-rank missions. If anything, he could say that Rock genin were a lot better trained at their lower ranks. Mind you, being a Shinobi was a secretive business and Naruto knew not to count out there being many nins all around the Fire Country that he didn't know of.

Jiraiya interrupted his thoughts by barging through the wooden double doors to the city's brothel and literally dragging Naruto in by the sleeve of his jacket. The elder nin immediately headed up to the counter to have a word with the brothel's mistress leaving Naruto in the small lounge area. There were a few younger girls seated in the lounge area, far too young in Naruto's opinion, as many of them were only his age.

Deciding that he should perhaps try to blend in until he could devise a plan to get out of the brothel without Jiraiya knowing Naruto sat down in a chair. Of course had he been paying attention to Jiraiya rather than trying to keep himself from blushing he would have noticed that his sensei was so taken by the brothel Mistress' rather large chest he would have been able to walk out the door just as easily as he came in.

He glanced across to the sofa where two young girls, both with short blonde hair in curls that could have been sisters, looked at him just as nervously back. He wasn't sure what possessed him to, but he started speaking before he could stop himself. "Err, hi?"

"Hi," one of the girls replied shyly nearly blushing.

"I… uhh… err, thought… uhh.. women here were older?" Naruto blurted out after some time.

This brought some sadness to both girls as their green eyes fell downwards to their laps. "You aren't from around here, are you?" the second girl replied timidly.

Naruto froze and mentally chided himself for so easily blowing his cover. Well, there was no hiding it now. "No," he began as he tried to recall the cover story Jiraiya had given him. "I'm just from Hidden village of the Moon on a journey to master more techniques." He wasn't sure if that was entirely it, but it was as close as he could remember.

"Every citizen of the Earth Country here goes to a ninja academy even if there is no history of being a shinobi in their bloodlines. However, many of us fail out, as expected of course, like my sister Kiere and I," the first girl began to explain.

_That must be why there are so many Rock nin around, if everyone has to attend their academies_, Naruto reasoned although he was still confused as to why two girls his age were at a brothel.

Evidently the girls picked up on his confusion. "What Kiara didn't explain is that we're assigned roles if we fail out of the academy. Kiara and I, well, we're not ninjas. There hasn't been a ninja in our family, ever. Most girls get picked for waitress jobs or similar, but some, usually those the Tsuchikage and his advisors consider attractive go into the brothels. We're here to apply for jobs."

"That's… that's wrong!" Naruto exclaimed in horror. He hadn't even considered that some girls would be working in brothels against their will. Jiraiya always made it sound like they loved their jobs. Of course that was Jiraiya talking.

One of the girls, Kiere, smiled sadly and nodded. "You really are different, you know? No one else cares, but it is our lot in life. The Tsuchikage says that it is so because our ninja need enjoyment when facing down death and torture. They live a hard life and need to relax."

"But, but, doing it against your will?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. "That's insane!"

"As I said, you're clearly not from around here," Kiara stated. "We're here to get jobs. If we don't we'll merely become target practice for a ninja genin team." Surprisingly for Naruto the girls didn't see too disturbed by this.

"Hey, kid! Get over here!"

"Just a minute you stupid pervert-"

"Leave those two alone! You want someone more experienced your first time!"

Naruto could feel his face reddening. Leave it to Jiraiya to embarrass him like that once again. He was already embarrassed enough walking populated areas with the man since every female they passed there was some sort of lecherous comment, grin, or grab going on. The girls seemed somewhat disappointed. "Ero-sennin! I don't want to-"

"Nonsense, kid! No need to be embarrassed. Having an experienced woman is a good idea for your first time because she can teach you how everything works and how the parts fit together," Jiraiya said with a huge grin, although he was utterly oblivious to the look of hatred Naruto was giving him and the looks of disgust coming from Kiara and Kiere.

After frantically bidding good-bye and apologize to the girls he allowed himself to be pulled along by the brothel mistress to a standard room. There he was thrown inside despite protesting. "Ano, I don't want to-"

"Don't be worried, dear," the woman said with all the sweetness of a lemon. "I'm sure she'll take it very slow with you. Our girls are designed to go the pace our customers would like." She thrust Naruto into the room and closed the door behind him.

Naruto wasted no time in whirling around to check out his surroundings. There was a large bed, a small dresser, a bathroom, and one window. Along the far right wall from the door there were clasps that Naruto didn't know, or even want to know, what they were used for.

"Just one minute," a sweet voice called from the bathroom, which had its door closed.

Wasting no time Naruto practically leapt to the window in a single bound and flung it open. He stuck his head outside. He was about four stories high which would hurt even a trained ninja to jump that far down. With a rush of gratitude towards Kakashi and his silly training ideas Naruto stepped out of the window and began walking down the side of the building by guiding chakra to his feet.

When he was about one story above the ground he jumped off and landed in a squat. He then crossed the street as innocently as possible and entered a restaurant as he knew he had about half a day to waste before he went to pick up Jiraiya from whatever room he was in at the brothel.

The restaurant's single room was quite large, but it was still crowded and dimly lit. Naruto struggled to make his way through the maze of tables, chairs, and people towards the ordering counter and bar which was inconveniently located at the back of the room. No one paid him a passing glance until a man stood up abruptly without looking and knocked Naruto back into another table where a woman about his age was eating.

"Ano, Miss," Naruto said quickly. The girl's sake, although Naruto wasn't sure how someone of her age had gotten a hold of sake, had spilled all over the table. She had a reddish hair color, or dark pink depending on your opinion. Naruto stepped back a pace when she stood up nearly as quick as the original man had.

"Watch… where… _the fuck you're going_!" she screamed, spinning around and whipping her steaming bowl of ramen at Naruto's head.

Naruto, who had seen the girl grabbing the bowl, was already dodging to the side causing the girl to miss. The ramen bowl sailed across the room and shattered upon impact against the far wall.

While some people thought that Naruto had just a strong connection to ramen and seeing it wasted so utterly enraged him, there was a lot more to it than that. For Naruto, ramen was more of a symbol of friendship and respect. There was only store in all of Konoha that would allow him to enter, shop, or eat when he was younger. The ramen he received there was more than ramen, but of tolerance as well. Thus, it wouldn't have been any surprise to anyone who knew him, although everyone in the restaurant though he was clearly as psychotic and insane as the red haired girl who threw the bowl in the first place, that Naruto took one large step forward so that he was inches from the girl, his teeth bared in a typical fox like fashion, and staring her down. "Don't you ever waste ramen!"

Naruto first noticed standing so close and looking straight down he got a good view of the girl's profile, notably her chest. _Ero-sennin was ri_-, he thought, but mentally slapped himself and forced his eyes off the girl's curves. The girl was wearing a mask over the lower half of her face, which wasn't odd, and her brown eyes stared back up at him defiantly. Very familiar brown eyes. A quick glance down at the hand the girl had thrown the ramen bowl with showed her to be wearing a glove, but white bandages were wrapped around her wrist and lower arm farther than the glove could cover.

"_You again_!" both of them exclaimed in unison before the Sound nin noticed Naruto's quick glance down at her body, but below her eyes.

"You fucking _pervert_," she bellowed angrily before bringing her knee up forcefully between Naruto's legs.

Naruto let out a barely audible whimper as he fell to his knees clutching his crotch. The Sound nin took a step back and then let fly with a round house kick that connected with the side of Naruto's skull and set him flying off into a nearby table. There was a crack as the table split in two and then numerous crashes followed as dishes and bottles of alcohol hit the floor. Unbeknownst to Naruto, every male in the restaurant gave him a silent prayer.

"They're over there, sensei!" growled a young voice that was preceded by a loud crash as some people rudely barged into the restaurant although Naruto couldn't see who it was.

Groaning painfully, Naruto couldn't even bare to sit up while he felt sick to his stomach from the knee the Sound nin had to put this genitals. From the kick to the skull he felt dizzy and disoriented. He was also covered with food and beverage stains and he ached all over from the collision with the table and chairs that had broken his fall so nicely. _At least I know how ero-sennin feels when he wakes up half the time_. Pushing past the discomfort Naruto sat up to see another team of Rock genin with a jounin leader standing in the only doorway to the restaurant.

The jounin was a woman of about thirty or so with long black hair although it was tied into a ponytail at the current moment, as was typical for kunoichi. Her eyes were an icy blue and if anyone had compared Naruto and the Rock jounin they would have said despite having similar eye color there was a large difference in their stares.

The first genin of the jounin's team was a boy with spiky brown hair that was larger than any two of the other nins put together. He was absolutely massive and at the current moment was flexing his muscles menacingly.

Beside the massive genin there was a smaller boy with a rat-like complexion with long brown hair that fell down the front of his face only parting for his eyes and nose. In comparison to his teammate he was quite small, but only barely smaller than Naruto himself. The genin also had a very cruel smirk on his face at the moment as his eyes scanned the restaurant before lingering on the Sound nin.

The final genin on the team was taller than the second genin, but definitely not as big as the massive one. He had black hair just like his jounin sensei, but that was where the similarities ended between the two. He was skinny, very skinny, as if a strong gust of wind would blow him over at any second. Much like the rat-like genin, he also had cold eyes, albeit his were grey. All in all, this genin team gave Naruto the creeps for lack of a better explanation. It was like staring down four different Gaaras at once.

"Remember what the Tsuchikage warned us for after last time. No killing innocents this time around or we'll be in trouble. We're supposed to bring them in alive, but if they run or resist, kill them. Just don't make too much of a mess," the black haired woman instructed as many of the patrons had already begun to move to the sides of the room or were slipping behind the Rock nins and out of the building apparently wanting no contact with the genin team at all.

The massive genin sniggered stupidly while the skinny one merely shrugged stoically. The final nin with the long her continued to glare daggers at the Sound nin.

The Sound nin apparently sensed the incredible danger in the situation since she immediately reached into her flak jacket's pocket and withdrew a small white orb which she smashed into the ground in one fluid motion. A wall of white smoke filled the room quicker than anyone anticipated. There were some screams, the Rock jounin barking some orders to attack, and the sound of feet moving in every direction.

Wasting no time while a diversion was obviously taking place, Naruto hobbled backwards farther into the restaurant. He hopped over the counter into the kitchen area as best he could before opening the door to the farthest room back he saw. Screams were flooding the main restaurant area along with the sounds of tables, chairs, and dishes shattering. Naruto knew that the Rock nins had begun their assault. Despite the fact that they were obviously trying to kill each other, Naruto hoped the Sound nin would survive so that he himself could get her back. He swore revenge on her specifically for the knee to the groin which was more discomforting than any other injury he had received as a shinobi.

The door clicked behind Naruto and he quickly locked it despite knowing that would be mostly useless knowing that the Rock nin should at least know some basic destructive jutsu. He spun around to find himself now locked in a storage room where the restaurant kept some of their extra food. The only problem was that there was no window. However, before he could decide what to do, there was a yell heard from the main room.

"You killed her! You killed her! My wife!" Naruto didn't recognize the voice.

"… heh." The reply was perhaps one of the most nonchalant comments ever.

"You said you wouldn't kill anyone but those two ninja! My wife was not one of them! You son-"

"…ergh. Step aside, idiot, before I accidentally miss again…"

Naruto's face was slowly contorting in horror at the carelessness of the Rock nin. He had killed one of the citizens he was supposed to protect and was then threatening to kill another because he was rightfully devastated. He was so deep in thought that he was severely shocked when a giant stone burst through the wall that led to the kitchen. He staggered back and realized that the stone was actually an arm after the hand opened up to reveal fingers and a thumb. The hand tore away a small chunk of the wall before the second hand came through.

The two stone arms pushed away from each other creating a giant gap in the wall before a stone leg stepped through hole the creature had created. It wasn't until the giant stone figure stepped the entire way through that Naruto realized it was in fact the abnormally large Rock genin that had somehow transformed himself into solid stone.

However Naruto was ready. It was obvious that these Rock nins were playing to kill them rather than simply captured so there was no holding back. That is why Naruto had been swirling chakra around in the palms of his hands as soon as the original arm had broken through the wall. He leapt forward and swung his arm forward. "_RASENGAN_!"

The ball of chakra scored a direct hit by colliding into the chest of the giant stone figure. For a moment Naruto thought he was victories, for he had never seen the Rasengan fail unless met with an attack of similar power such as the Chidori, but a split second later he realized that the Rasengan had dissipated entirely without so much as leaving a scratch on the solid Rock nin.

It was a good thing that Naruto had sense to leap to the side in a dodge just in case since the Rock nin lunged forward, missed, and crashed into the opposing wall breaking straight though it and out into the street. Naruto wasted no time hopping over the downed stone man and out into the street.

Naruto thought he caught a glimpse of the Sound nin darting across the street followed by what looked to be a long claw of earth, but he wasn't sure as he jumped up on the side of the building while applying chakra to his feet. He wall climbed as quickly as he could before sprinting across the roof towards the brothel on the opposite side. He knew he had to get to Jiraiya and then get out of town as soon as possible.

"Where tha hell did he go?" Naruto could hear the giant genin exclaim stupidly from down below.

Fighting to keep a smile from his face Naruto leapt off the side of building with all of his chakra moved to his feet. He easily propelled himself the distance and landed on the brothel's roof with a dull thud. A quick shoulder check revealed that for the current moment no one was following him or aware of where he was. He headed to the ally behind the brothel and walked down the wall before slipping into the backdoor.

"And just _who_ do you think _you_ are?" asked a woman wearing fishnet stockings and sleeves, black high heels, and altogether too much makeup.

Naruto blinked and realized he had entered what could have been the brothel's employee lounge. "I… uhh… just looking for someone."

"Like _that_?" a different woman said wrinkling her nose. This one had long blonde hair. In fact it appeared as if she permanently smelled something unpleasant the way her nose was.

Sighing, Naruto looked down and himself and remember that his clothes were soiled with food and drink stains and torn in a few places. "Look, if you'll excuse me…"

"Oh I get it, you want one of those young girls. Sweetie, there are things I can show that would blow your mind. No young ditz will show you that, I promise you."

Gritting his teeth Naruto just ignored their indignant glares and headed out of the lounge and back into the main waiting room. The brothel Mistress arched an eyebrow at him, but didn't try to stop him as he stormed down the hallway to the guest rooms. He was slightly put out that Kiara and Kiere were no longer seated in the waiting area as he wanted to apologize for his actions, well mainly Jiraiya's actions, earlier. The staircase up to the Kage suite was entirely deserted so he knocked on the door once and then entered.

Thankfully Jiraiya was lying on the large bed with the sheet covering him and the girl he was with was apparently in the washroom.

"Brat! What are you-" he stopped and his eyes moved up and down Naruto's body. "I don't want to know what sort of wet and messy food fetish you got into, but beat it. I'm busy. You need to learn some endurance, kid."

"You stupid pervert!" Naruto exploded. "Some Rock nins have been trying to kill me for the last bit! We need to get the hell out of here!"

"The girl you were with was a Rock nin that tried to kill you?" Jiraiya asked, wide-eyed.

* * *

A few hours later Jiraiya and Naruto were safely traveling through the Waterfall Country having finally, to Naruto's pleasure, left the Earth Country and the Rock nins behind. Jiraiya was still grumpy about having to leave in the middle of one of his sessions at the brothel, but grudgingly acknowledged that it was a serious issue that Naruto was being hunted by the Rock.

The legendary sannin had also examined the wanted posters put up and come to a rather startling conclusion.

"Brat, the Sound nin there, she's one of Orochimaru's personal bodyguards. She helped take Sasuke away. I'd stay away from her if I were you."

"Then I'll definitely find her and make her pay. She'll know where Sasuke is."

"Take my advice. Leave Sasuke alone. I've had experience with this before. He won't be coming back and it's best to just forget about it."

_No, Jiraiya-sensei, I can't do that. I made a promise to Sakura-chan that I'd bring Sasuke back. If I ever meet that Sound nin again I'll force her to tell me where Sasuke is and if she doesn't_… Naruto glanced at his hand. There were two scar marks that marked where he had grabbed the Sound nin's kunai. _If not, I'll just have to avenge this myself. I will return Sasuke and find that Sound nin. That's another promise and not just to Sakura-chan, but to myself as well_.

To be continued…

Next up: The real timeline starts. I've decided, however, that I'm going to make short intermission chapters throughout the story called "Naruto Gaiden" after the interlude "Kakashi Gaiden", which detailed Kakashi's past. Basically Naruto Gaiden will deal with more of Naruto's journey with Jiraiya, although it most likely won't relate to anything Naruto/Tayuya-ish. The information, however, will most likely be important as is every little thing I add. Yes, I'm evil like that, so pay attention!


	3. Chapter 1: Interesting Problems

A/N: Actually I was smirking evilly and telling my beta my plan for Naruto to get Tayuya back for the knee to the groin as soon as I wrote that part. I then realized just how _wrong_ it was. Naturally this made me set it in stone. It'll take a while, but Naruto will get her back… oh yes… )

**Chapter 1: Interesting Problems**

**Konoha  
****Following the events in the Wind Country involving Akatsuki, Gaara, and Sasori's death. Present date.**

Naruto gloomily played with the half full bowl of miso-ramen in front of him. He was back in Konoha at Ichiraku's ramen stand after what seemed to be at least three years. It was true that he had stopped there after returning with Jiraiya, but with the whirlwind trip out to the Wind Country to save Gaara and the ensuing fight with Akatsuki it felt like much longer.

"You look sad, Naruto-kun. You used to always be happy here even after a tough day at the academy," commented the waitress, Ayame, as she cleaned part of the counter where there were no customers with a wet rag. Technically, Naruto was the only customer.

"Well…" Naruto began, swirling his ramen with a chopstick. He shrugged and took another forced mouthful and hoped that Ayame would forget the entire matter.

The daughter of the ramen stand owner wasn't about to let a little thing like Naruto's attitude get in her way. "I… I heard a few Shinobi last night saying generally what happened in the Wind Country." Naruto gave no reaction other than another shrug. "Was it true that Gaara, the Kazekage… died?" she pressed on.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, and he was brought back to life by and old woman who knew a jutsu to exchange life forces."

"So your friend is alive?" Ayame smiled brightly. "There's nothing really to be down about now, is there?"

"I suppose you're right. Gaara's probably the one friend I have that knows what it is llike, well, was like to be me," Naruto replied a little more cheerfully after gulping down another mouthful of his favorite ramen. "But the whole thing made me think about some things that I hadn't thought about since early on my training with ero-sennin in the Earth Country-"

"Earth Country!" Ayame exclaimed, but then immediately brought the volume of her voice down to more of a harsh whisper. "No one from Konoha is supposed to set foot near the Earth Country unless the Hokage and the council say and plus it's just _dangerous_."

For the first time since he had arrived at the ramen stand Naruto rewarded the girl with a foxy grin. "But we needed to go there to learn some Earth jutsu. There just isn't any other place, and trust me I learned my lesson." He showed Ayame the palm of his right hand.

"How did you get _that_," Ayame gasped and pointed at the two scar lines.

"Errr, well, that's a long story, but the short version is I met a girl-"

"Oooooh, I see where this is going," Ayame interrupted with a wink. "I always knew you'd fall for someone-"

"-who gave me that with a kunai while trying to stab my throat and then a few days later kneed me between the legs and kicked me into a table, which shattered."

"Oh." Ayame blushed. "Sorry, I thought you'd finally gotten over that Haruno girl."

Naruto sighed again. "I will always protect Sakura-chan. You know that. However there were two other girls, twins actually, that I met there and they didn't try to kill me-"

"Aha!" Ayame exclaimed as she thrust a fist triumphantly in the air. "You fell for twins!"

"-but were trying to get jobs in the local brothel."

"Argh," the girl replied, her attitude deflating quickly. "Aren't there any normal women in the Earth Country?"

Naruto smiled. "Actually the one that tried to kill me was from Hidden Sound." He held up a finger to stop Ayame's reply. "Don't worry, Ayame-chan, I promised to get revenge on her." He sighed again sadly and looked down at his ramen. "The twins weren't doing it by choice. They had no choice. The law in the Earth Country is that if you fail out of their ninja academy you do the job they tell you to do."

"And the Tsuchikage made them become _whores_?" Ayame exclaimed while looking aghast. She immediately blushed afterwards. "Ano, Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to use such language."

This prompted Naruto to give her another fox-like grin. "You should have heard that Sound nin then. Boy, did she use colorful language…"

"Ano, I keep interrupting your story. I still do want to know what's bugging you so go on. I'll try to keep my comments to myself."

"I like your input, Ayame-chan. I need cheering up." He shrugged and swallowed another mouthful of the ramen. "I didn't think anyone should be forced into a career either. Not having choices… being forced into things. Then with the whole Akatsuki situation, with Gaara and Shukaku and all… he didn't have a choice either, but was forced into all of that. He didn't have choices, he didn't have friends…"

"But Naruto-kun, you do have friends," Ayame pointed out. "Its been a long time since you've walked around alone-" she stopped herself and realized that she had seen Naruto walk up to her father's ramen stand alone like he used to do in the past.

"So I thought," Naruto said hanging his head. "They've all disappeared. They don't want anything to do with me now that they know what Akatsuki is after. I'm just the dangerous one again."

"Don't say that, Naruto-kun!" Ayame pleaded. "Who knows what they're doing! Maybe they have missions."

"Yeah," Naruto snorted sarcastically. "Or maybe something sinister is happening and they're all too busy to say hello."

Ayame gave him a worried look. "I'm sure what you're thinking isn't true, Naruto-kun…" she pleaded while she gazed towards Hokage mountain and wondered just what exactly Naruto's friends were doing or what really was going on.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Tsunade, Godaime Hokage, asked the figure before her. Tsunade thought she had known this particular individual quite well, but it was apparent that her information was wrong.

The figure nodded, but added nothing else to what was previously stated.

"I see," Tsunade pursed her lips for a moment in thought. "I don't like it, you know. I think it's too cruel-"

"Too cruel?" the figure interjected. "We will not have an opportunity like this again."

Tsunade sighed and waved a hand towards the figure. "Fine. Do it tonight if you have to, but just remember I want no part in this."

The figure raised an eyebrow at this. "No part? It was your idea. Anyways it's too late to turn back now. We're almost prepared."

Tsunade nodded and contemplated the situation. Indeed this entire thing had been her idea, but it was merely a random thought of hers. Now it was getting a little too big for her liking. She had a soft spot for Uzumaki Naruto although she didn't really like to admit it to anyone else. She wondered, however, whether this was bordering on cruel and unusual.

"It'll be done by midnight." The figure left the Hokage's office and vanished down the hall.

_I'm sorry, Naruto. I really am_, Tsunade shook her head sadly and grabbed her bottle of sake.

* * *

"Thanks, Ayame-chan, I needed that," Naruto said offering the waitress a wave and a grin before heading off down the street. While he was still pretty put out that none of his friends were around, he definitely felt better with this stomach full of ramen. He had decided that instead of letting it bug him he should just give them time to recover from their mission. Granted, it had been a grueling time in the Wind Country and people needed to unwind. He could hang out with his temporary new teammate, a boy slightly older than him by the name of Sai, but after all Sai only talked about Naruto's lack of manhood, or penises in general. This disturbed Naruto quite a bit so he decided to keep his distance.

There was Kakashi, of course, but Naruto hadn't seen his jounin-sensei since returning back. He was probably at the bookstore buying the latest copy of Come Come Paradise or whatever else Jiraiya had written about since their return. On their journey he had completed at least two more books for his ongoing series that Naruto was beginning to realize were based on real events, for the most part.

Before long he ended up in his favorite area to be alone, the head of the Yondaime Hokage up on Hokage Mountain. From here he got a great vantage point of Konoha's night life. Well, what constituted of 'night life', Naruto had never really known. It wasn't like many people accepted him. When he had begun getting accepted many things were already in motion from the Chuunin exam, the Sand-Sound Invasion and all the way up to Sasuke's escape. There had never really been a dull moment in Naruto's life to go explore life when he wasn't actively having rocks thrown at his skull.

He sighed and his mind began to wander back to his time spent in the Earth Country. His thoughts were of the twin girls he had learned so much from about the Hidden Village of the Rock in such a short time, the Sound nin who he had sworn to find, extract information about Sasuke from, and then get revenge on. No one need Uzumaki Naruto in the groin and got away with it. Well, anymore that is. Before his match against Kiba in the Chuunin exam people used to do it on somewhat of a regular basis.

Well, there was no sense really dwelling on the past. This is why Naruto gazed down around the village and happened to get a glimpse of two shadowy figures meeting near the back of the Konoha Administration building where Tsunade had her office. He frowned. It looked like one of them was threatening the other, but he couldn't be sure. Naruto pulled himself up to his feet and began to hop down the side of the mountain for a closer look.

The first figure smirked. "Come on Hinata-chan, I know you want to."

The second figure, Hyuuga Hinata, shook her head nervously. "I-I I'm not sure…"

The first figure sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, if you're thinking for one second that we don't know about all of that you're sadly mistaken-"

"N-n-no it isn't like that!" Hinata insisted, her stuttering becoming even worse as she stepped a few paces back before flinching.

Undeterred, the first figure stepped forward and closed the distance back up. "I can see your face, Hinata. You know what needs to be done. I guarantee afterwards you'll like it…"

"But its Naruto-kun! I… I won't," Hinata stated firmly.

"Really now?"

"Y-y-ou heard me," the Hyuuga girl answered defiantly.

"Hinata-chan…" the first figured cooed eerily.

"N-n-o. Sa-" Hinata began hesitantly, but was cut off as an orange blur raced past her.

The first figure barely had a change to react to the blur's fist which was crackling with energy. She leapt out of the way and ended up doing a back flip in the air as the blur continued through and connected his fist with the side of the Administration building. It was quite lucky for the building that Naruto had wanted some remnants of the figure that was threatening Hinata and thus hadn't put his full chakra behind his Rasengan.

"No one threatens my friends," Naruto stated as calmly as possible although he was already spiking up with anger. His mind was already back to how he had failed to save Gaara from Akatsuki.

"N-N-Naruto-kun! Stop! T-t-hat's-"

"Stay back Hinata. This creep is mine. I'm sick of people picking on my friends," Naruto began to advance.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the figure standing in the shadow of a weapons shop was somewhat worried, but was grinning evilly. Sure, her inner self was scared witless at the moment given how close that Rasengan had come to her head, but everything was going to plan. _Yes, Naruto-kun, come on_. With that she jumped up to the roof of the weapon shop and began ninja-hopping across the rooftops.

At the sight of the figure darting away across the rooftops of buildings Naruto leapt away from Hinata and followed his prey by first launching a barrage of throwing stars at the retreating figure, but they missed as the nin was too far ahead. He sprinted after her while promising he'd get to the bottom of this.

Hinata was left alone and sighed, hoping that Naruto and the other girl didn't hurt themselves. The plan was rather risky, but she had to admit it was going to turn out alright for Naruto. She had volunteered for this particular part in the role, however, but didn't think that Naruto would go to such lengths, such as using the Rasengan, to ward off someone bullying her. This thought caused her cheeks to turn an intense shade of red before she set off towards her next rendezvous point.

* * *

Naruto was easily able to keep pace with the retreating figure, but he couldn't help but notice that the figure wasn't entirely trying to get away. Whenever the figure was getting too far ahead or taking a quick turn that would have thrown Naruto off guard, she seemed to stumble or miss step to allow him to catch back up. It was like she wasn't trying. Or taking him seriously. This last though enraged him even more so that he redoubled his efforts.

Eventually the figure left the streets of Konoha behind and descended into the training grounds where Naruto had participated in Kakashi's bell test with Sakura and Sasuke. It wasn't long before the figure darted into the trees and disappeared from sight.

Cautiously Naruto approached the forest doing his absolute best to remain silent. This allowed him to hear any slight rustling in the leaves and possibly give him an advanced warning of when his opponent was going to strike. Unfortunately since he was in a clearing walking silently did nothing to disguise his position. Only a blind Shinobi wouldn't be able to see him despite the darkening sky. He took another step forward, then his body became rigid as if he was simply paralyzed.

Naruto then took two steps forward, although he was quite shocked to find that his body was moving on its own. There was a rush of air and Naruto thought he saw some sort of distortion in the air to his right, but of course whatever has seized control of his muscles wouldn't let him turn and see what it was.

There was a rather painful jolt in his brain and everything went white.

* * *

Pulling himself to his feet, Naruto found himself sitting outside the door of a stately white house. Off to the side and across a huge courtyard was a much larger and grander residence. The entire area was surrounded by a massive iron fence which Naruto recognized clearly as the Hyuuga's complex grounds. He had, of course, never been on it in his life, but he vaguely knew they had pristine white structures on their massive plot of land.

The only problem, Naruto quickly realized, was that he was only wearing his boxers and a pair of white socks.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 2: On Cloud 9

**Chapter 2: Sitting on Cloud 9**

A/N: Sorry. The first scene in this chapter kept my stuck with writers block and extreme pain for over two months. I decided to end it rather abruptly so I could keep writing.

**Hyuuga Compound  
****Konoha  
****Present date.**

Naruto quickly clenched and unclenched a fist to make sure that he had total control over his body again and found that it was just as it should be. He wasn't sure how he had managed to get from Team 7's training ground to the Hyuuga compound or how he had lost all his clothes along the way save his boxers.

It was the sound of footsteps behind him that snapped Naruto out of his retrospective. He spun around and someone he hadn't expected to see on the Hyuuga compound, but this individual was probably far better than any member of the Hyuuga clan. A Hyuuga would probably close all his chakra points with his or her Juuken before he had a chance to explain. Then again, it wasn't like he knew what happened.

Nara Shikamaru stopped when he and Naruto came into each other's full view. Shikamaru was merely wearing his everyday Chuunin vest and nin garments and was carrying a scroll that looked official. He glanced over Naruto's body, shrugged, inclined his head slightly in a little bow and continued up the path towards the small white house Naruto was standing in front of. "Naruto," he said finally in greeting. "It's a little cold for wearing only that, don't you think? I'm not sure Hiashi-sama would appreciate you walking around like that outside his daughters' villa."

"I don't even know how I got here like this!" Naruto snapped back quickly, albeit a little louder than he had wished.

Shikamaru inclined his head and rubbed his chin. "How troublesome."

"I was just trying to figure out how I got from my genin team's training grounds to here without me remembering it, and how I was dressed like this!" Naruto exclaimed frantically as if it would get Shikamaru to help him.

"Well, that really is quite troublesome," Shikamaru commented. "Perhaps Hinata would allow you to take a robe or something from her villa so that you can escape the Hyuuga compound with some form of decency."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief before his memory kicked into gear. "Hinata!" he exclaimed again. "She was being stalked or something by this figure, and I ended up chasing the figure away, that's when it got me!"

At this, Shikamaru merely raised an eyebrow. "Naruto, I think you need to go lie down or something. Get some sleep. Your mind is cracking."

"What?" growled Naruto. "Hinata's in danger!"

Shikamaru shook his head and held up the scroll. "I happen to know that both Hinata and her younger sister, Hanabi-chan, are at home right now in this very villa. It was confirmed by the Hyuuga's sentries at the gate to their compound. I'm merely here on official business as a Chuunin examiner. Hiashi-sama wished to see if it was possible his youngest daughter could be eligible for Chuunin entry straight out of the academy."

At this Naruto merely blinked a few times and slowly nodded, but he noticed that Shikamaru was already knocking on the door to the villa with the golden door knocker. The door opened a cracked and light filtered out. Shikamaru took a step inside, turned back to Naruto, and shrugged. "Are you coming or what?"

After another quick glance down to see what little clothing he was wearing Naruto decided that this would the best option and hurried quickly behind his lazy friend. By the time he entered the small entrance hall, which was still nicer than his own entire apartment and was a testament to how rich and powerful the Hyuuga clan really was, Shikamaru had gone ahead into one of the main chambers. Naruto could just barely make out the Nara boy speaking to someone else and a bit of shuffling around which he took to be a servant or something most likely going to fetch Hyuuga Hanabi, unless of course there was an even younger Hyuuga daughter he was currently unaware about.

"Hey, Naruto. Get in here. Someone's gone to fetch you a cloak or something," Shikamaru's disembodied voice came from the main hall, or living room, or guest room, or whatever massive opening Naruto was only glimpsing into.

Trudging forward, Naruto had only taken a few steps when the lights abruptly went out. With trained reflexes he reached down his side for a shuriken or kunai, but stopped short when his hair only came into contact with air. He had lost his weapons when he had lost his clothes. Before he could then react there was a tug and he was pulled several feet forward into the next room. Then the lights came back on.

"Surprise! Welcome back!" came around a dozen voices all yelling at the top of their lungs.

Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, Rock Lee, Tenten, Neji, and even Temari from the hidden Village of the Sand were present. The room was decorated with several banners which read either '_HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY'_' or '_WELCOME BACK!_'.

As it turned out Sakura had in fact remembered when Naruto's birthday was. At first Naruto had merely suspected that the party was being used more as an excuse to drink, especially when Tsunade had arrived with a few bottles of sake and proceeded to get overly drunk.

At first the Hokage had somehow managed to slip out of the Hokage's tower late this evening after leaving Shizune as a stand in double. Naruto supposed he should have been very impressed that the Hokage of all people was attending what appeared to be a birthday party in his honor, but at the current moment that didn't matter as he had more important things to take care off. Plus, everyone present knew that Tsunade had a soft spot when it came to Naruto. They didn't know the whole story, but they safely assumed it had to do with how Naruto had won her necklace when he and the other legendary sannin, Jiraiya, had managed to convince the older woman to return as the village's Hokage.

"Na-Naruto-kun?" came a timid voice from behind Naruto, causing him to jump in an entirely un-shinobi like manner. Losing his clothing had made him feel quite defenseless, and dare he think it, _naked_.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto cried upon seeing the white-eyed girl standing perfectly fine and holding out a simple combat uniform for him. "You're ok!" Several people in the crowd sniggered or let out small laughs at this proclamation.

"Aw, come on, Hinata, you're going to spoil the, uhh, _view_." Naruto recognized this voice as belonging to TenTen, from Rock Lee's and Neji's team.

"And my handiwork!" That was clearly Ino, who was pushing her way to the front of the crowd. "Shikamaru and I worked so hard to get him here like this."

_So that's how that happened. The Yamanaka abilities._ "Gomen, Hinata," Naruto said gratefully as he accepted the Hyuuga's gift and proceeded to slip it on right there. There wasn't really much sense in getting a private place to change since everyone was already staring at him anyway. He figured he'd have to get back at Ino and Shikamaru for plotting that entire thing, but he also knew they were unlikely to be the brains behind the operation. Sure, Shikamaru was smart enough to be, but he was too lazy to plan something like this.

The party itself was far more than Naruto ever expected to get from anyone in Konoha. It seemed that all of the people he even considered close to being friends took the time to stop by for a few moments or so. Kakashi, Iruka, and even Ayame managed to stop by for a few moments before leaving.

Kakashi mentioned something about having to speak to him later, but left the party before Naruto had a chance to question his sensei any further.

Naruto himself didn't drink anything and thus was still quite sober by the time Temari sat down beside him on a pristine white sofa located next to all the other pure white furniture the house held. After seeing Jiraiya drink himself into trouble for three years he had entirely sworn off of the stuff. Temari, on the other hand, clearly had downed a few drops of sake during the night's festivities.

"Naruto-kunnnnn," she said, slurring the honorific title slightly as she leaned closer to him. Naruto got a distinct feeling that this was a far more deadly encounter than anything he came across while in the Earth Country. "I'd like to thank youuuuuuu…"

"Gomen, Temari," Naruto replied quickly as he gulped and slide a few inches away from Temari. It wasn't that she was bad looking or anything, but he certainly didn't like that look in the jounin's eye. It was more like a predator hunting prey than anything Naruto may or may not have wanted.

"I want to thank youuuuuuu…" Temari repeated again, shifting closer due to Naruto's retreat. "For rescuing my brother…. He needs a friend…."

_What?_ That was certainly different than Naruto expected. _I really have spent too much time with ero-sennin_. Just what was he expecting, after all? "No problem," Naruto answered. He had stopped sliding over when the kunoichi had mentioned Gaara. Gaara would always have a place in Naruto's heart because he was quite possibly the only person who truly understood what it was like being shunned due to something beyond your control.

It was Temari's hand on his thigh that brought Naruto back from his thoughts and nearly made him jump. "Uhhh, Temari-san…"

"Shuush, Naruto-kun," Temari said as she tried not to slur her words anymore. "I've always liked you."

It was then that Naruto was saved a lot more embarrassment by Tsunade, who wandered over in a semi-drunk stupor. Temari's hand quickly moved away from Naruto's thigh. She wasn't about to try anything directly in front of the Hokage at least.

"Meet me at the Hokage's tower in fifteen minutes," she said simply before wobbling from foot to foot and heading out the door.

"I'll be right there you old hag!" Naruto called after her slightly annoyed. Perhaps this is what Kakashi was on about earlier. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Sakura was excusing herself to leave as well. That proved Team 7's involvement in this meeting. While he wasn't really heartbroken about leaving Temari behind, he was rather put out that he couldn't catch up with the rest of his teammates and friends.

He sighed, got up, thanked Hinata, and headed out the door in Sakura's wake.

* * *

A lone figure sat in a tree on the Hyuuga compound and watched as the target's pink haired teammate left the building. The target followed his teammate down the walk. While this figure was decidedly more deadly than Haruno Sakura, he didn't dare attack this particular target alone. Instead he waited until the target had cleared the Hyuuga grounds before moving from his perch. He moved slowly and deliberately proving that he wasn't a novice at stalking his prey.

Even though he had a clear line of sight to his target and was well within range he held back. The target's teammate was probably still close by. It wasn't that the figure was scared of anyone from the Haruno family, no matter how much training they got from a legendary sannin, but it would merely complicate things. The figure had done his research and knew that the target's power greatly went up with the Haruno girl was around.

The figure was confident that he would be able to handle such a thing, of course, otherwise he wouldn't be following the target alone in the first place. The thing that made his mission slightly complicated was that the target had to be taken alive until the Kyuubi sealed inside of him could be extracted.

When the figure saw that the target had entered the Hokage's tower he let out a simple shrug and turned around. After several minutes of hoping precisely from building to building in the shadows without a sound, he entered one of the unused training grounds. There he met his partner for this mission.

"He looks weak, Zetsu. I could take him myself," the figure said.

The other figure hiding in the shades had literally half-merged himself with a tree. The man, if one could call him that, was creepy for lack of a better word. He looked like a giant venus fly-trap that had half swallowed a human. "You say that now, but you didn't witness his fight with the Uchiha boy. He isn't to be underestimated. Besides, you seem to forget that we're in Konoha, the Hidden Village of the Leaf."

"Are you calling me weak?" the shadow replied hotly. He took a step forward towards his Akatsuki counterpart.

Zetsu inclined his head ever so slightly. "I meant nothing of the sort, but surely you must admit that Konoha of all places would certainly rally around a battle which involves someone's chakra molding into a giant reincarnation of the Kyuubi itself."

The figure said nothing, although it was obvious he didn't like the answer. "I'm sick of playing in the shadows. The Uzumaki brat went to the Hokage's tower, though. I'm sure he'll get sent out on a mission. Then I can finish them off even if you don't want to help."

It was the other figure's turn to remain silent and contemplate the plan. He could find absolutely no fault in the first figure's logic so he had no choice but to agree.

* * *

By the time Naruto had made it to the Hokage's tower it appeared the Hokage herself had entirely sobered up. While Naruto didn't entirely understand how this was possible since he made it to the tower in under ten minutes, he had to assume that the Hokage, as a trained medi-nin, was able to fix herself up some special remedies to cure drunkenness.

Kakashi, Sakura, and surprisingly Hyuuga Neji were also present along with Tsunade's trusted aide, Shizune. Kakashi was standing lazily against the wall towards the rear of the room next to Neji would had his arms crossed. Sakura had actually taken one of the four seats in front of the Hokage's desk. Naruto sat down in one of them, albeit as far away from Sakura as possible. He wasn't about to get slugged for some random reason.

"I'm sorry for dragging you four away from that excellent welcome back party, but it seems there is urgent news coming out of Kumo," Tsunade began as soon as Naruto had sat down and Shizune had closed the door and sealed it with a jutsu. The contents of this meeting were obviously highly confidential.

"Kumo? The Hidden Village of the Cloud?" Sakura remarked in surprise. She had been leaning back in her chair, but now was sitting up straight with rapt attention.

Tsunade merely nodded. "We've received word that the Sandaime Raikage has passed away. A rather unknown young kunoichi was named Yondaime Raikage. Reports are from around Kumo that she's nothing like her predecessor, which is good news for us." When everyone stayed silent, the Godaime Hokage continued. "Myself and Kakashi's team will be taking a trip to Kumo to meet with this new Raikage in hopes of improving our relations with Hidden Cloud."

"Hokage-Sama! Are you sure? It'll be incredibly dangerous to walk into a rather unstable environment!"

"Shizune, it will be fine. There is a reason we're bringing Kakashi's team with us," Tsunade replied to her aide forcefully. It wasn't too often that Tsunade acted like the Hokage was expected to, but this was one of them. When it came down to it, Tsunade took the job very seriously.

"But Hokage-Sama, surely the ANBU would be a better choice-"

"I have the utmost faith in Kakashi's team. The members are perfectly suited to this mission."

"We are?" Sakura blurted out instantly before blushing and covering her mouth with one of her hands.

Tsunade smiled devilishly for a second and nodded. "Kakashi is a well known Shinobi, but in addition to that you may know if you paid attention during some of the history lessons that Hidden Cloud has been rather obsessed with some of Konoha's special bloodline eye abilities. The Sharingan is one."

"… and the Byakugan is another," Neji added with a passive tone. Naruto had almost forgotten he was there. "I take it I am to be accompanying Kakashi-sensei's team to Kumo?"

"Precisely," Tsunade nodded. "Since the assassin from Cloud that attempted to take Hyuuga Hinata's life over a decade ago, we've been in somewhat of a cold, neutral, state with Hidden Cloud. Having Hinata's cousin, a respected Jounin accompanying our team from the Hyuuga clan will be somewhat of a peace offering that we're not bitter. It'll also go to show them that we trust them enough to bring someone with the Byakugan ability into their own city."

"If that is my fate, then I shall accept it."

"I thought you stopped caring about fate," Naruto snapped almost instantly. He wasn't even sure why he was annoyed by this.

Neji shrugged slightly. "I said that my life will no longer be run by fate. If this mission requires me to go against my destiny, I shall do it."

"And why are Naruto and I coming?" Sakura interrupted. "I… I'm not sure Naruto would be the best choice for a mission like this given… that…" she stopped and looked around in turn at everyone in the room before finally looking Tsunade directly in the eyes.

"Everyone in this room knows about Naruto's _condition_," Tsunade replied in a rather soft voice and putting special emphasis on the final word. "As his jounin sensei, Kakashi knows. I have confided his condition in Shizune. You have undoubtedly found out during your time as you are teammates with Naruto, and no doubt Neji has seen Naruto's strange chakra coils with his Byakugan. I trust this is no surprise to anyone."

"But, but… why bring him?" Sakura asked again. "If anyone in Hidden Cloud finds out-"

Tsunade smiled rather mischievously which cut off the pink haired kunoichi. "While we'll be leaving in only a few hours under the cover of darkness, people will eventually know. This is a show of faith in Naruto and a harsh lesson for those in Konoha that Naruto is a respected shinobi." If anything Tsunade's grin became even more unnerving. "Plus, with Naruto's hidden power when he gets enraged, he'll be a good trump card to have should anything go awry. Now, I suggest you all get some rest."

While Naruto was still somewhat in shock from Tsunade's display of faith in him, he still followed Kakashi and Neji out of the door.

Sakura on the other hand was hesitant to leave. When Naruto and the others had left she turned around again to face her mentor. "Tsunade-sama," she began somewhat gloomily. "Why am I going along? Is it just because I'm your apprentice, or just the tag along member of Team 7?"

This time the Hokage stared sternly at her apprentice, but to her credit Sakura didn't flinch or back down. Chances are that's because she was in a rather depressed mood as it was. "You are and integral part of your team, however there is more to it than that. As a trained medical-nin you can help us deal with any emergency situations that arise. I won't lie and say this mission won't be dangerous. Shizune was correct when she stated that it wasn't the most stable of situations, however we must go on for the good of Hidden Leaf as it is. Hidden Cloud is a potentially needed ally. And not just for us."

Sakura was quite surprised that the Hokage was admitting this much to her, but since she had become Tsunade's apprentice her ear was allowed to catch a lot more confidential information that anyone else excluding Shizune. "I understand, Tsunade-sama," Sakura replied with a slight, respectful bow. "But beyond that I'm not really much use-"

"Sakura, did we not talk about selling yourself short? I would not have taken you as an apprentice if you were not powerful. If you keep this up I'll have to set another slug summoning lesson for early this morning. Go and get some rest and tell the others to meet by the northern gate at five in the morning."

Once again Sakura nodded, thanked her mentor, and headed off quickly to find Kakashi, Neji, and Naruto.

* * *

North of the Fire Country, another individual wasn't exactly feeling great about herself either. Although there was a key difference between the situations of this individual compared to Haruno Sakura of Hidden Leaf. Said difference between this individual and Sakura was that everyone else around her apparently felt the same. At least that's the impression she got when the mass of kunai sailed past where she had just stood before leaping into the air.

The woman landed on a branch in a tree on the outskirts of the village. Below the branch, on the trunk, were around ten kunai embedded all the way to their hilts. Without ever thinking of returning she began hopping from branch to branch and praying that those behind her were too lazy to follow. She had worked, lived, and roomed with the individuals for years and this was the most thanks she got when all was said and done. She was sick of being a scapegoat, and quite frankly it seemed that everyone else was sick of making her a scapegoat too.

_Fucking bastards,_ the woman thought as she dodged another fistful of kunai. She wasn't sure where she was going, but one thing was for sure: She wasn't going to be returning to her old home anytime soon.

To be continued.

A/N: Next chapter: Team Kakashi, along with Tsunade and Shizune, heads toward the village of Hidden Cloud, Kumo. The main question of course is what exactly will happen along the way. Thanks once again for the interest in this story despite my lack of updates.


	5. Chapter 3: Every Journey Begins

**Chapter 3: Every Journey Starts With A Few Steps  
****Fire Country; Fourteen Hours North-West of Konoha  
****Near The Outer Borders of the Fire Country  
****Present date.**

Team 7, in addition to Tsunade and Shizune, had departed from the Northern gate of Konoha early in the morning at around six thirty in the morning given that Kakashi was his typical tardy self. However, it was obvious that Kakashi placed a lot more importance on this mission than any others since he was only an hour and a half late instead of his usual two. When Kakashi had arrived, the group of five left the village without any other problems.

Now it was fourteen hours later and the day had been incredibly long. Tsunade had stressed the need to rush towards Kumo. She admitted that this wasn't the safest way to achieve their ends, but she knew that they weren't the only ones looking to make contact with the new Raikage and have Hidden Cloud as a much needed ally. The political situations were tensing up recently and that wasn't due to the antics of Akatsuki or Orochimaru's Hidden Sound village. Those two problems were Hidden Leaf's alone since the main target in Akatsuki's view was Uzumaki Naruto while Orochimaru had taken an unnerving interest in Uchiha Sasuke.

Tsunade had wanted to travel farther, but she knew she was pushing things too far as it was. They were taking enough risks rushing towards Kumo like this, but to do so without rest was suicide. She wasn't going to take that big a risk to herself or her team. For that reason she had them make camp near the edge of the Fire Country's borders. It had only taken minutes for the tired travelers to unpack their tents and sleeping bags and get to sleep.

Only one man remained awake and that was because he volunteered to stand watch that night. Yes, Hyuuga Neji felt that something was amiss.

That's why he stood in the center of the camp and activated his Byakugan. He had specifically waited until everyone else had gone to sleep because he didn't want to alarm certain individuals. Those individuals were the ones that had been watching them from a distance. If one was to ever figure out who they were and why they were following the Hokage north he or she would have to lull them into a false sense of security. In short, Neji needed to make sure they'd attack the camp. He was confident that the other ninja would be able to rouse themselves in the blink of an eye to defend.

The visible chakra coils of the rest of Neji's team flared into view. There was the Hokage and her aide, Shizune, in the center of the camp. Both of them were asleep. Naruto and his teammate, Sakura, were off to the northern side sleeping side by side while Team 7's jounin master saw it fit to stay off to the south. They barely moved in their sleep and Neji could tell it wasn't a peaceful rest. Perhaps they had sensed the same thing he had.

It wasn't his own teammates that he was interested in scouting out. From his idle position in the center of the camp he was able to see in all directions thanks to his Byakugan. He shifted his head ever so slightly so that the miniscule blind spot didn't cause him to miss something important. His battle with Kidoumaru when the Sound Barrier ninja had taken Sasuke away from the Leaf had taught him a lesson he would never forget.

Hyuuga Neji gave his head a slight nod as he could see the chakra coils of several figures moving in from more than one angle.

* * *

The shadowy figure hated waiting for Zetsu. It seemed that his partner was nearly always late. This was due to the fact that he dawdled or wasted precious time by sticking around to hear meaningless conversation. The figure didn't want to wait any longer. They had tracked the Hokage's party all the way to the edges of the Fire Country and he was tired of waiting. Tired of waiting for Zetzu. Tired of waiting for his chances to get the Kyuubi, and tired of slinking in the shadows. He'd done that far too long.

"You're letting your anticipation get the best of you, old friend," a whisper came from behind the figure. He whirled around, glaring and ready to pounce. When he saw who it was, he snarled.

"There you are. Stop wasting time, Zetsu. If we don't get the Kyuubi soon Uchiha will beat us to it."

Zetsu let out a soft sigh from his position sticking out of a tree besides the figure. "Uchiha has other things to deal with right now. You on the other hand seem to be excessively eager to commit suicide."

The figure's glare sharpened even more. "Once again you insult me, Zetsu-"

"I did nothing of the sort," the fly-trap-like human replied, interrupting his companion. "I don't doubt your abilities. I realize you are more suited to combat than I am myself, but you do realize who is down there, correct?"

There was a deep exhale of breath from the figure. It was pure annoyance. "We'd go in, grab the Kyuubi brat, and sneak away. We won't be fighting anyone," the figure replied.

"They aren't stupid. Surely you realize that someone will be keeping watch. If the alarm is sent up we'll be dealing with a highly regarded jounin master, his team, and the Hokage herself? The Kyuubi brat seems to have some control over the Kyuubi's massive power. That alone should make you wary."

"In and out," the figure seethed. "I've waited too long."

"And you shall wait a little longer. There are other forces at work here. There were several figures moving towards the Hokage's position. I took longer because I had to verify their identities. I assure you they're highly trained. If it wasn't for my rather unique abilities I surely would have been detected-"

"Uchiha Itachi!" the figure spat angrily. "Him and that gill-faced freak-"

It was Zetsu's turn to exhale in utter annoyance. "Keep your voice down or we'll surely be detected by these individuals. And no, I assure you it wasn't any of our companions. Nor is it a group of assassins foolishly attempting to take the Hokage's life," Zetsu added quickly, seeing the figure's facial expression change. Well, what facial expression was readable.

"Then?" the figure asked, intrigued enough to lose his impatience.

"They seem to be ANBU from Konoha, oddly enough," Zetsu said thoughtfully. The figure hated when Zetsu was in moods like this. It was in times such as these that he slinked away into the shadows to gather information and let him seething for hours. "Regardless, the other Jounin, the Hyuuga, has undoubtedly already seen their presence through his Byakugan eye. I had to expend a lot of energy to keep my chakra coils from being visible to him."

"I'd like to move closer…" the figure said, his grin returning.

For once Zetsu agreed. "Good. You've read as much into the situation as I have. We may just get your opportunity tonight if all goes well."

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was rudely awakened from his light slumber by the fact that a group of small pebbles sprinkled across his face. Unlike what he would have done years ago, Naruto's eyes shot open and he instantly tensed up, relying on his senses. He noticed that Neji was standing very still near the middle of the camp. There was a small scuffle in the ground near the Jounin's foot. He'd been the one that'd woken him up with the pebbles. That meant there was trouble.

There was a soft sound behind him that alerted Naruto to the fact that Sakura was also awake. The fact that the sound only lasted a split second meant Sakura was similarly aware of the situation. Naruto lay in wait for the storm to begin or until Neji gave the signal.

In the blink of an eye Neji seemed to glow bright and a ripple of air rushed over Naruto. There was the sound of metal clinking and clanking together. Naruto barely had time to notice the pile of kunai at the Jounin's feet and realize the fact that he'd blocked the attack by releasing pure chakra from his body before he'd flipped upright.

It was both a good thing and a bad thing that Naruto had sprung to his feet. Where his head had been resting mere milliseconds previous was occupied by a rather large ninja star. Since he was standing up, however, the black-clad ninja that had exited the trees besides him landed his foot squarely in his upper chest, knocking him backwards. After landing painfully flat on his back and feeling an odd tingling in his left shoulder, Naruto rolled to the side just in time to avoid the follow up blow from the attacking ninja's knee.

Quick motions in his hands allowed Naruto to complete a hand seal and create a Kage Bunshin clone to appear on the ground beside him. The clone was immediately toasted and turned to smoke by the fact that a thin blade impaled its throat. Naruto used the free time to flip to back to his feet.

Propelling himself forward to attack with the forward motion he continued, Naruto snapped forward with his fist and caught the holder of the thin blade in the wrist. There was a snap and a small shout of pain. The hand retracted and the blade was left stuck in the ground where the Kage Bunshin clone had one been.

Naruto faced his injured attacker now. The attacker was larger than him in size, but seemingly very agile despite his height and weight. Before Naruto could make another move, his attacker lunged to the side. Behind him was another figure clad entirely in black. A feminine figure this time. She was just completing the hands seals needed for a jutsu.

The jet of flame erupted from the feminine attacker's hands. It came as such a surprise that Naruto didn't have time to dodge it beyond turning his head and upper body to side so it didn't hit him directly in the face. The flames bit and seared against his body suit, hair, and exposed flesh. The heat was intense enough that Naruto felt his entire body was going to melt.

It would have been a lot worse if his suit he wore wasn't flame resistant. That didn't stop the heat from taking its toll. The smell of burnt hair filled his nostrils making him want to hurl and he didn't event want to think about the flesh of his cheek. Naruto supposed he was quite lucky as the thin blade that he been stuck in the ground had actually melted under the flames. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, creating four shadow clones to do his bidding.

Three of the clones charged the attacker while the final clone as well as Naruto himself readied a Rasengan attack. Just as the chakra began to swirl around in the palms of combined hands of Naruto and his clone there was an even sharper pain stabbing in his right arm. In addition to that, the clone he was using to help fuel the Rasengan dissipated in a puff of smoke due to a shower of kunai.

Of course the death of the shadow clone was the least of his worries. The pain in his arm was burning far worse than anything the female's flame jutsu had done. Reaching with his good arm he felt the handles of about five or six kunai dug into his flesh. Naruto quickly shot a glance to the side where the attack would have come from to see the original attacker standing there grinning.

One of the attacker's hands was swaying from side to side in a sickeningly smooth motion - it was clearly broken. "Lucky I couldn't use a jutsu, brat," the man snarled. Because Naruto had broken his wrist he was unable to create hand seals and thus had to resort to a fist full of kunai.

It was also lucky for Naruto that the other attacker had to take the time to finish off his three other shadow clones before engaging him. The precious time it had taken Naruto to stare down the male attacker should have cost him his life. Right now both of the attackers were readying themselves to attack at the same time.

"The demon dies here," the female attacker stated firmly while she readied herself. The male attacker stayed silent.

It was the earthshaking rumble that knocked everyone off balance that saved Naruto. What followed was the sound of snapping bones and a scream that barely sounded human. The Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, had entered the battle. Both of Naruto's attackers had stopped dead after the rumble.

The two figures quickly glanced at each other. "Oh shit," the male one said. "Time to go," the female added before they both turned on their heels and darted off into the trees as fast as they had come.

With some free time Naruto took a moment to collect himself. Utilizing his free arm he reached back and plucked the kunai one by one from his arm, wincing each time.

"Naruto!"

The blonde ninja spun to see Sakura hobbling towards him. She was favoring her right leg, but didn't seem to be in pain. "Sakura-chan, your leg-"

"Don't worry about that. I've already started healing it. I need to stop the bleeding on your arm," Sakura replied as she began to make several hand seals. When she had completed the seals she placed her palms on the kunai wounds. It was overly warm to the touch, but when the kunoichi removed her hands the wounds were closed, for the most part.

After that Sakura fussed over his hair and cheek, but once that was done she turned her attention back to her own leg. In the meantime, Naruto headed over to where Tsunade, Neji, and Shizune were summing up what had happened in the battle. Just as Naruto began to open his mouth to speak, two figures emerged from the bush. One of the figures was wearing a fox mask while the other appeared to have one on that was avian in nature. Naruto recognized them at once as members of Konoha's ANBU forces.

"Hokage-sama," the ANBU nin wearing the fox mask said, bowing deeply to her. "I regret to say that we were too late to stop the assassination attempt on you, but are greatly relieved that you were unharmed." The other ANBU nin followed suit, bowing deeply.

There was a snap of a twig which caused everyone in the clearing to whirl around to see what made the noise. It was only Kakashi emerging from the bushes carrying an unconscious body slung over each shoulder. He dropped the bodies onto the ground. There was a man with a mask that looked to be of a pig and a woman that had a mask that was clearly a rabbit. Both were ANBU. "Then perhaps you can explain why I had to stop these two from trying to take Naruto Uzumaki's life?" Kakashi asked. It wasn't really a question. These weren't the two nins who had been attacking him moments before, however, as they sported no injuries.

"What-" both Naruto and Sakura deadpanned at the statement, but things were already in motion. Two ANBU who had willingly walked into the clearing had leapt into motion. The one wearing the fox mask had surged forward, blowing past the stunned nins and heading into the underbrush.

His companion was less fortunate. The ninja whose face was hidden behind the eagle mask attempted to follow, but was snagged out of mid-air by a rib crushing blow from Tsunade's forearm in an amazing display of speed from the Hokage. The man crumpled over, writhing in pain on the ground, but unable to voice any pain. His ribs were fractured badly and pointed inwards, cutting and slicing his lungs so they could no longer hold any air.

"Kill you, Naruto?" Sakura asked, still confused, as she turned to face her blonde haired teammate only to realize he was no longer standing beside her. "Naruto? Naruto!" she snapped, spinning around entirely and just catching a glimpse of the nin as he leapt over the shrubbery into the forest after the ANBU agent in the fox mask. "For the love of-" Sakura stopped herself in mid-sentence before lunging towards the forest line herself in pursuit of her comrade.

Neji had already turned and was preparing to depart, but it was Tsunade's voice that stopped him.

"Stop. There may be more of them around just waiting for us to thin their lines. If Naruto and Sakura were foolish enough to follow an enemy through unknown terrain, we cannot endanger anymore of our team."

"But Tsunade-sama-" Shizune began, but stopped herself when she realized the grim look on the Hokage's face. Neither of them liked the situation, but Tsunade was correct in her decision. Naruto and Sakura would be on their own.

* * *

"Can we finally go _now?_ Look how foolish the kyuubi brat is!" the Akatsuki member hissed to Zetsu, who in turn was halfway sticking out of a nearby tree.

Zetsu inclined his head every so slightly. "Yes, I think it is time," he said before shrinking entirely into the tree.

"Excellent. I have waited far too long for this. I must collect my tailed demon before someone else does," the first man said before he too leapt forward after his prey.

To be continued

**A/N**: Shorter than normal, I know, but I've been very busy of late and people were requesting an update. Yes, I do still appreciate all the private messages and reviews I get. I'm sorry I'm unable to write at a pace suitable for the story I'm trying to tell. Thanks for your patience.


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